Cutting apparatus



Feb. 13, 1923..

v A. W. HOUCK.

CUTTING APPARATUS.

FILED OCT. 14. 1922.

Arman/Em l0 lllllllill 'lllllllll WITNESSES Patented eh. l3, lhf lll.

rite iar harmsron w. HOUCK, or vnea BAJA, ronro RICO.

ourrrnd arranarus.

, llpplication filed October 14-, 1922. Serial No. 594,643.

1 n all 107mm it may camera:

l3e it known that l, iliiLINe'roN W. ITIOUCK, a citizen. of the lfiuited t ltates, and a resident ofVeg-a Baja, Porto Rico, have inventeda new and lniproved Cuttin Aipparatus, of which the tollowing 1s a tall,

, essarily into equal parts. i

The special use 1n mlnd in providing the new apparatus is in the canningindustry, where spherical edible objects, suchas fruit and the largervegetables, must be cut up, either before or after the peelingoperation,

and either before or after the coring operation," if the latter isrequired, in order to obtain parts small enough to be properly packed inthe commercial sizes of cans, jars or thelike. j a

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an exceedinglysimple, inexpensive, expeditious and reliable apparatus of the kindindicated and wherein the edible object is preferably passed throughcutting means adapted to make all the required subdivisionssimultaneously.

Another object is to provide an apparatus of the kind just described,and in which the cutting :instriiunentalities are so grouped and shapedthat very simple feeding means, constituting another feature of theinvention,

may be efficiently combined therewith, particularly for employment inthe case of previously cored spherical objects, such feeding meanshaving the advantages not only of accurately guiding a successioniiofthe objects through the cutting means, but of permitting additionalobjects to be easily, quickly and continuously added to the line ofobjects retained. and guided by the feeding means, and of permittingconvenient and automatic discharge of theseverod parts of such objects.

Another object is to provide such an apparatusand. one wherein thecutting means includes a plurality of continuously operating separatecutting members, Working in angularlv related planes, but having fieldsof cutting operation surrounding the feeding means in a common zone, orat a com,- mon level where the feeding means is provided, in agreementwith present preference,

ing, showing an ember "line 22 of be distinctly understood, cated, thatthe generally to retain and guide the line of spherical ob ectstodescend toward and through such field by gravity; whereby, as isdesirable,

but a singlepower means may be provided, and that the single power meanspreferably jno'vided for operating all the cutting memberssimultaneously. i The foregoing and other objects of the inventlon willbe more clearly understood from the following description, Whentaken inconnection with the accompanying drawliment of the invention as atpresent preferred; it being understood, of course, that such embodimentis merely illustrative and that the scope of protection contemplated isdefined by the appended claims.

In said thawing, in which like reference characters refer to like parts;

Fig. 1 is a vertical axial section, taken on the line l-l of Fig.2; and

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the Fig. 1, but with certain ofthe parts shown in plan.

Before describing; the exceedingly simply machine disclosed in thedrawing, it should.

as already indispherical objects need not necessarily be products of thevegetable world; nor need they necessarily be substantially generallyspherical in the sense that a grape fruit isalmost a true sphere.However, for ronvenience of description in the following part of thisspecification, the spherical objects 5, shown in dot-and-dash lines,will be referred to as grape fruit.

Each grape fruit 5, whether or not previously peeled, although it ispreferable to peel them first, are cored by any suitable means beforesubjection to the operation of the present cutting apparatus; at leastin any such apparatus where feeding means, therefor embodied as a singlenuidinsi member, such as is comprised inthe presen t case by the centralvertically disposed tubular member 6, \vhicluof cruirse, is the casewhere the cutting ap imxratus is constructed, as here, to serve anillustrative example of a particular embodiment designed for use incutting cored grape fruit.

The cutting means includes here four-disk knives 7 arranged for rotationin vertical planes each spaced from another 90 around tubular member 6,Although as indicated above any number of knives 7 or their equivalentsmay be employed, to agree with the number of pieces into which the grapefruit is desired to be subdivided, four such knives is a very practicalarrangement not only for cutting the grape fruit into subdivisions whichare alike and of a size convenient for canning, but also for permittingvery simple means to be provided whereby the cutting knives aresupported at vvhatmay be termed a commonlevehand for simultaneousoperation relative toeach grape iruit as'itv passes through the zone ofcutting operations. Sue-ha means includes a horizontal shaft 8 for eachknife blade and betweeneachpair of convergingshatts a pair of bevelgears 9, one fixed on the-end of one shaft of said pair, and one fixedon the other shaftotsaid pair. Withthesc gears mitre gears asisjpreterable, it will be seen vided with a pulley as indicatedlat 15 tobe driven directly from such source. Supports for-theshatt bearings maybe provided as ilmjlicatediatfltl in Fig. 1.

In order thateach -ra e fruit 5 21s it )asses through thefield oicutting operations may be broken up. intoa plurality of completelysevered subdivisions,the tubular member 6 constituting the guiding meansis provided with a pluralityot longitudinal slots as indicated at 13,and the radius of each dish.

knife is greater than thehorizontal distance between the center ofthelrnife and thecenter of the tubular memberfi, whereby, .asillustrated in the drawing, a port-ion 14 of each whirling knife isalways protruded within one of the slots 13.

Various changes, in addition to those already noted, may, of course, bemade in. the general form and arrangement of the parts described ormentioned without departing from the invention, and hence I do not limitmyself-to the precise details set forth, but considermyselt at libertyto make such changes and alterationsas fairly tall within the spirit andscope oil. the following claims.

I claim:

1. A cutting machine for generally spherical objects including a tubularmember, said member having a plurality of longitudinal slots, and a pin'ality of: cutting disks mount ed for rotation in planes including saidslots, said disks always intersecting said slots and said member forguiding a series of such objects when previously cored and sleeved onsaid member 'l or movenicnt along the length thereof.

2. vThe cutting i'nacliine delincd in laim I, wherein said tubularmember is inclincd to the horizontal to permit gravity to l'ccdihc coredobjects toward and past said slots.

3. fr cutting machine for generally spher ical objects including aplurality ol movable cutting blades mounted for movcmcnt to per'l'ormcutting operations along converging lines means tor tll hlltlblllfl suchblades simultaiicously and means 'l'or rctaining and guiding asucccssion ol' objects. through all such lines including an elongatedguiding structum along which a plurality ol such objects, whenpreviously coredv may be strung'l or passage along the length o'li saidstructure, said structure comprising a substantially vertical tubularmember, said tubular member having slots through which said cuttingblades move during their cutting operations.

a. The cutting machine delincd in claim 3, wherein said retaining andguiding mcans is \an elongated guiding structure along which a pluralityof such objects. when previously cored, may be strung l'or passage alongthe length of said structure. said Hlilllw ture comprising asubstantiallyvertical tubu-- lar member, said tubular member ha vino;slots through which said cutting blades move during their cuttingoperations. said slots being arranged longitudinall on the tubularmember and being spaced around the some at the same level.

5. A quarterii'ig machine tor cored grape fruit including anuprightguidingmember on which a cored grape fruit ma be mounted as asleeving collar. and tour circular cutting disks-arranged in verticalplanes and spaced apart the guiding nicnibcr having cut-away portionsinto which the discs received during I'Olilllnll.

are partially ARDTNGTON lltllhll l llll l (l ii

